Borneo and the Indian Archipelago / with drawings of costume and scenery

by Frank Marryat

There are very good subscription rooms in the city. Every month they give a ball, concert, or amateur performance. Strangers are presented with tickets for these amusements—no thanks to the Spaniards—but from the kindness of the English merchants, who are nearly all members. I went to one of these balls: there were plenty of women—more than could get partners; the music was good, the women well dressed, and they waltzed exquisitely. Adjoining the ball-room was a billiard-room, in which those who preferred smoking cigars in a cool room to dancing, with the thermometer at 90°, had retreated. Nothing can be done at Manilla without the cigar: they smoke for an appetite, they smoke for digestion, they smoke when they are too hot, they smoke when it is chilly. As the hands of the time-piece approached the hour of eleven, every one who lived outside the city was obliged to be off. We, among others, took our departure; but when we sought for our carriage, it had disappeared. We set off at a hard trot, to reach the gates before eleven, but in our haste we missed the road, and came to a cul-de-sac. We retraced our steps, but when we reached the gates they were closed. A request to the officer of the guard we knew to be useless, so we turned back, and prepared to pass the night in the streets, in our uniforms and swords. After wandering half an hour up and down without seeing a light or meeting a soul, I heard a violent hammering at a door at a little distance. I found it was one of our party, who hammered away, and called out for "Soda water" between each hammering. "All's right!" said he; "look here!" And sure enough there was a board outside, with "Soda Water" painted in large letters in English. This repeated hammering and demand for soda water at last produced the desired effect. A person in a dressing-gown and slippers came out into the balcony, and demanded our business. We explained our extreme thirst and benighted condition; and as the gentleman hesitated, we again applied to the door, intimating that if we had no admission, at all events he should have no repose. At last he sent down to have the door opened. We found that he was a German chemist, who fabricated soda water, among other articles, and, knowing the partiality of the English for the beverage, had advertised it in our language over the door. We passed the night with him very comfortably at his house, breakfasted with him the next morning, and, promising to bring the whole of our shipmates to drink soda water for his benefit till we were blown out like balloons, we wished him good-bye, and returned to the ship.

Gambling is carried to a great extent in Manilla: the game played is Monté. We visited one of their gambling houses. Winding our way down a dark and narrow street, we arrived at a porte-cochère. The requisite signal was given, the door opened cautiously, and after some scrutiny we were ushered up a flight of stairs, and entered a room, in the centre of which was a table, round which were a group, composed of every class. An Indian squaw was sitting by the side of a military officer, the one staking her annas, the other his doubloons. I stood by the side of an old Chinaman, who staked his doubloon and lost every time. The strictest silence was observed, and nothing was heard but the chinking of the dollars, and the occasional à quien of the banker, who inquired the owner of the stakes. Every thing was conducted with the greatest order; when one man had lost all his money he would retire, and make room for another. The authorities of Manilla have made every effort to put a check to this demoralising practice, but without much success. It is universal, from the highest to the lowest, from the civilised to the most barbarous, over the whole of the Indian Archipelago.

The Indians of the Phillippines are among the best favoured of the Asiatic islanders, but they are not reckoned so brave as the Malays. They are a quiet inoffensive race, clean and well shaped, and are all converted to the Catholic faith. Their principal amusement is cock-fighting, which, indeed, is carried to a great extent in all the islands. Every man in the streets has his fighting cock under his arm, and groups may be seen at all hours of the day, pitting their cocks and betting on the issue. The country about Manilla is very pretty, well cultivated, and studded with thriving villages. The Spanish possessions in this part of Luzon are confined to about twenty miles in every direction; the interior of the island being peopled with a race of savages who occasionally make incursions into the country, carrying away cattle or any thing else that they can lay their hands upon. I could obtain no particulars of these aborigines, except that they go nearly if not altogether naked.

On the 1st of December, our old acquaintance, the Velocipede schooner, arrived from Sooloo, having on board six Lascars, who had been ransomed from the sultan of Sooloo by Mr. Wyndham. They had formed a portion of the crew of the Premier, an English merchant vessel, which had been wrecked on a reef off the eastern coast of Borneo. The crew, consisting of Europeans and Lascars, had been divided between the sultans of Sooloo, Gonong Tabor, and Balungan. One of the Lascars was the bearer of a letter from the captain of the Premier, stating that he and his crew were still captives, and trusting that a vessel would be sent to rescue them, as they were strictly guarded by the natives, and had no hopes of escape. The Samarang being the only man-of-war at Manilla, the English consul requested our captain to proceed again to Borneo to obtain these people, calling at Sooloo in order to obtain information and a pilot.

On the 10th of December we sailed for Sooloo, where we arrived on the 15th. We found the natives preparing for an attack, which they anticipated from the French, and suspicious that our intentions were also hostile. Having already described Sooloo, I shall confine myself to events. The captain, with his officers, went on shore, and had an audience with the sultan; and having brought an interpreter with us from Manilla, the conversation was carried on without difficulty. Refreshments, as lemonade, &c. were handed round as before, and, as before, the room of audience was crowded to suffocation.

The prime minister, who was a little corpulent man with an aquiline nose, wore such an expression of low cunning, and eyed us with such ill-concealed hatred, that we christened him Daniel Quilp, and he was ever afterwards spoken of by that soubriquet. Our object being made known, and the sultan's assistance demanded to obtain the remainder of the prisoners, every obstacle that Quilp could throw in our way was resorted to; and thus the audience became very tiresome, and I paid little or no attention to what was said, amusing myself by using my eyes, instead of tormenting my ears. A heavy red curtain was hung up, dividing the room into two compartments. Observing that this moved once or twice, I endeavoured to find out the cause, when several pairs of black eyes, half hidden in the folds and rents, explained the mystery; and whilst they were loudly disputing, I was winking and making faces at the sultan's wives, who, stimulated by curiosity to behold the white men, were thus transgressing the rules of the harem. But old Quilp looked very hard at me, and for the ladies' sakes I was obliged to desist.

Behind the sultan stood a young man very handsomely dressed in crimson silk, who held in his hands an English finger-glass. We were very much at a loss to know what his office might be, and also what might be the office of the finger-glass; but our curiosity was soon gratified; the sultan beckoned the youth to approach, and as the latter presented the finger-glass, his highness blew his nose in it.

Indeed, the misappropriation of English utensils in this part of the world is very absurd, although it is not surprising that an article coming into their hands, the use of which they have no idea of, should be appropriated to that use which they consider it best adapted to. On the occasion of a dinner given to us by the sultan of Bruni, the whole party were seized with a fit of very indecorous and immoderate laughter, by finding the centre dish, which was a curry, served up in a capacious vessel, which in Europe is only to be found under a bed. The curry, nevertheless, was excellent; and what matter did it make? "What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."—But to return.

We remained eight days at Sooloo, during which time there was much altercation and excitement. At last the sultan of Sooloo agreed to send a prahu with us to pilot us up the river, to the town where the crew of the Premier were in durance.

During the time that we were at Sooloo, we had evidence sufficient of the vindictive feeling held by the rabble against Europeans, and at the same time the various ways they resorted to, to give us an idea of their superiority. They drew our attention to some old cannon mounted on rotten gun-carriages; they pointed out the strength of their fort, the sharpness of their krisses and spears; and we could not but smile at the false estimate of their and our capabilities. They expressed curiosity to see our swords, which are always made of finely tempered steel, although not sharp edged, as they are required more for thrusting and parrying. Of our mode of self-defence they are ignorant, as they invariably cut with their krisses; their first attention was, therefore, drawn to the edge of the sword; passing the thumb along it, and finding it blunt, they expressed the greatest contempt for the weapon. It was useless to show them the thrust and parry movements, or to prove the well-tempered steel by bending the blade till the hilt and point were almost meeting. A sharp iron hoop in their ideas was preferable to all the best English workmanship. The Sooloo knives are larger than they usually are in the Archipelago, and of superior manufacture. By rubbing them with limes and exposing them to the sun, they stain them in a manner quite peculiar to the place.